Insiders' Share Of Ames Sell Briskly

Insiders Selling Shares Of Ames

March 14, 1992|By GREGORY SEAY; Courant Staff Writer

Insiders have been selling shares in Ames Department Stores Inc. at a brisk pace since the bankrupt retailer proposed a recovery plan that would render its stock virtually worthless, federal filings show.

Nine Ames officers and directors have sold 80,331 shares of common stock since Jan. 13, when the Rocky Hill-based discount chain submitted its blueprint for emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All but three insiders no longer own any Ames securities, SEC filings show.

The insiders extracted some value from their holdings, selling at prices ranging from the stock's 52-week low of 50 cents to 63 cents.

By comparison, in 1991, 19 insiders sold 63,422 common stock shares at an average price of $2.05, filings show. Ames has 37 million common shares outstanding.

Ames' common stock closed Friday unchanged at 56 1/4 cents a share.

Ames apparently triggered the recent wave of insider sales with its reorganization plan, which still needs to be approved by Ames' creditors and the bankruptcy court. Ames filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in April 1990.

Corporate insiders -- officers and directors with access to sensitive information about a company -- must tell the SEC when they buy or sell the company's shares.

Many corporations, including Ames, have strict policies governing when insiders may buy or sell shares. Ames, in a statement Friday, indicated that none of the recent sales violated its policy on insider sales. The company also said it has no policy barring non-stockholders from seats on its board or in its executive suite.

Of the insiders selling stock, three sit on Ames' board of directors. The rest are officers in the company, Ames confirmed.

According to SEC filings, 47,910 common shares owned directly or indirectly by Norman B. Asher, an Ames director, were sold for

63 cents a share three days after the filing of the reorganization plan.

Another director, Melvin M. Rosenblatt, sold 14,000 shares, also at 59 cents apiece. The sale also trimmed his Ames common-stock holdings to nothing, but Rosenblatt held 20,000 shares of the company's debentures as of Jan. 20, filings show.

Six Ames officers conducted insider stock sales, SEC filings show.

William H. Ginsburg, vice president-imports, sold 5,205 shares at 50 cents a share Feb. 25, and no longer holds shares in the company.

Mark Von Mayrhauser, a vice president in the treasury department, sold 2,795 shares Feb. 12 for 56 cents each, and now owns one share.

Dorene Robotti, vice president-legal, sold her last 1,492 shares for 50 cents each Feb. 7.